1780 SEAECH FOR HOUSE-MARTINS 59 



" 1781, Ap. 5. Searched the S.E. end of the hanger for 

 house-martins, but without any success, tho' many young 

 men assisted. They examined the beechen-shrubs and holes 

 in the steep hanger. 



"[Ap.] 11. While two labourers were examining the 

 shrubs and cavities at the S.E. end of the hanger, a house- 

 martin came down the street and flew into a nest under 

 Benham's eaves. This appearance is rather early for that 

 bird. Quae, whether it was disturbed by the two men on 

 the hill?" 



To the Rev. B, Churton. Seleburne, near Alton, Hants. 



Dec. 7, 1780. 



Dear Sir, — If you have no more fears about a winter- 

 journey than I had at your time of life, you might, I should 

 hope, favour me with a visit during the approaching vaca- 

 tion. The country indeed is now shorn of its tresses, and 

 much in dishabille; but we have still pleasant footpaths, 

 wild views, and chearful neighbours. I will give you some 

 roast-beef, plum-pudding, and other Xstmass-cheer. We do 

 not, I believe, now keep the good season that is advancing 

 so jollily as you do in the N. ; but you will, I hope, be 

 pleased with visiting Sir Adam de Gurdon's hall, where that 

 old baron probably entertained his tenants with an ox 

 roasted whole, and floods of brown ale. What I want is 

 for you to try your hand at this place at this disadvan- 

 tageous season ; and then I shall not doubt but you will like 

 it better in the summer. We have finished a walk of 400 

 yards in length through an hanging wood just above my 

 house; which we are apt to think will please strangers, 

 because we like it ourselves. From hence we look on the 

 village in a very pleasing light. If you are a draughtsman, 

 I can show you some stained views taken from nature by an 

 artist that came down to me from London. 



My progress in Nat. Hist, is very slow indeed. I now 



